Why You Need a Personal Website

A personal website tends to be common for people in the creative and tech world. Regardless of your industry, create a personal website to display your professional self. Only 7% of the general population, and 15% of millennials have a personal website.

It’s difficult to get ahead in the professional world. There is always someone that is more qualified, educated, or experienced than you. But when you’re looking for a job, advertising your services, or just showing off how much of a badass you are in the business world, do this one thing to make yourself more marketable. This is much different than your social media profiles. In addition to LinkedIn, your personal website will showcase your skills, experiences, and personality.

3 Reasons to Have a Personal Website

1. Stand out from the crowd

Show the world who you are. Your resume is just another piece of paper a hiring manger looks at. Give yourself an edge by adding personality to your profile. Sure, there’s social media but everyone and their mother has some sort of social media profile. Your website is supposed to be an extension of your resume with a bit of flair to it. If you’re into writing, add a blog page to show off your writing chops. An adept written communicator is a great skill to have no matter the industry you’re in.

2. Increase your online presence

45% of employers use search engines when researching candidates. Use this as an opportunity to make yourself more visible.

3. Showcase your swag

Display your ability to design websites, build software, write, or just about anything that can be on the website. Show off projects that you’ve worked on, or are working on.

Going back to those that aren’t in the creative space, know that you can still show off your skills or accomplishments. It may not be straightforward but you just have to be creative.

• Charts

• Infographics

• Videos

• Pictures

Create a visually stimulating story or picture to show off how awesome you are. If you’re in sales, infographics will be a fun way to display your history of overachieving quota. If you’re an engineer, create a pictorial narrative of a project you worked on.

If you don’t have the time, skill, or inclination to build your own website then consider Wix or Weebly as helpful resources. It’s easy to get set up using these two platforms.

If you want to get your hands dirty with creating the website yourself then you’ll need to take additional steps.

What you will need:

• Domain – Aim for www.yourname.com• Hosting Account – This connects your domain to the world wide web.• Content Management System (CMS) – This is a tool to build and manage your website. WordPress is the most common CMS so stick with WordPress.• Credit Card – Domain and Hosting will cost you. WordPress is free. There are a lot of nice WordPress themes that are free so no need to shell out money for a theme.

Bluehost is a good end-to-end solution provider for your domain, hosting, and WordPress installation. They have great customer service and helpful resources to get you up and going.